Ghai seeks Bollywood’s help to save Whistling Woods

“This is an initiative that the students wanted to take,” said Meghna Ghai,president of WWI and Ghai’s daughter,before a press conference on Wednesday. Present at the conference were actor Shabana Azmi,filmmakers Manmohan Shetty,Amole Gupte and Boney Kapoor,the school’s faculty members and close to 100 students and 50 WWI alumni.

The industry members came together as a panel,each taking turn to share their views on the verdict and also lending support to Ghai. “Education is invaluable and WWI has been providing India what it needs most — quality film education,” said Azmi.

Gupte pointed out that WWI had not only provided a platform to showcase the film made by his underprivileged students but had also committed to admit the eldest of them once he graduated. “Where will he go now?” he asked.

Former student Aditi Anand,also the first student to enroll,recollected that she had opted to join WWI because no other Indian film school offered a course in production. “At that time,I could have only opted to study abroad,which I didn’t want,” she added.

Govind Nihalani and Azmi also talked about the school’s fees,perceived to have hugely profited Ghai. “It is important to understand that film education is expensive just as filmmaking because of the equipment involved. And if I am not mistaken,WWI has not making the big profits people think it is,” Nihalani said.

A student of the school added that he did not have the means to pursue the course but the school gave him a scholarship and an offer for an on-campus job.

Meghna said the school still has to repay over Rs 45 crore as loan.

Ghai said while no concrete alternatives have come up yet,they are not averse to appealing to the government and judiciary to work out a possible solution. “But none of this will deter WWI. We will always be there,if not inside Film City and on this campus,then elsewhere,” he said.